Ohio Northern University Men and Women Win 2009 OAC Swimming and Diving Championships
AKRON, OHIO – Ohio Northern University’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams won the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Meet this weekend (Thursday-Saturday, February 19-21, 2009) hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College at the University of Akron’s Ocasek Natatorium.
The Polar Bear men totaled 303 points to win their fifth consecutive OAC crown. They were followed by Baldwin-Wallace (202) in second place, John Carroll University (164) in third, Mount Union College (121) in fourth and Wilmington College (59) in fifth.
The Polar Bear women totaled 310 points to win their second OAC title in the last three seasons. They were followed by John Carroll (214.5) in second place, Mount Union (187) in third, Wilmington (82.5) in fourth and Baldwin-Wallace (57) in fifth.
On day three, ONU’s Michael Schultz garnered his third individual All-OAC accolade and sixth overall with his first place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle in an OAC and Ocasek Natatorium-record time of 15:45.82, which qualifies him for the “A” cut of the national meet. Schultz also was a member of the 400-yard individual medley winning relay team. He teamed with Brett Kuhn, Anders Samuelson and Garrett Dauch to post an OAC-record time 3:01.17.
Ryan Bender and Dauch also picked up All-OAC honors for ONU with first place (1:57.27) and third place (1:58.20) finishes, respectively, in the 200-yard backstroke. Bender’s time was just .03 seconds off the conference record.
ONU’s Michelle Eggers and Katherine Moore also finished in first place during the final day of action. Fiffick won the 100-yard freestyle in 54.37 and Moore won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 2:13.98. Jillian Huber and Alison Garbash teamed with Eggers and Sarah Fiffick to swim the 400-meter individual medley in an OAC-record time of 3:39.90.
Samantha Mossmann earned All-OAC mention for JCU by winning the 200-yard backstroke in 2:11.20, just .25 seconds off of record pace. Alex Vereshchagin was just 0.35 seconds away from breaking the conference record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.87, but still took first place.
B-W’s Todd Richert (North Royalton) won the one-meter dive for the second consecutive year with 495.15 points and nationally qualified for both the one and three-meter dives.
Purple Raider Mary Vallinger won the women’s three-meter dive with 438.80 points, nationally qualifying her, and she was followed by teammate Samantha Tecca with 331.90 points.
John Creech of Wilmington was the only men’s winner for the Quakers as he won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.23. The OAC Title was Creech's third straight in the 200 fly.
ONU Head Coach Peggy Ewald swept coach of the year honors as she was named both Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year. ONU also swept the swimming honors with Michael Schultz being named the Men’s Swimmer of the Year and Michelle Eggers named as the Women’s Swimmer of the Year. The Men’s Diver of the Year was awarded to ONU's George Chesney and Mount Union's Mary Vallinger earned Women’s Diver of the Year honors.
For more information, please visit the official tournament website at www.bw.edu/athletics/sd/09oacchampionships.
FOR MORE Baldwin-Wallace College Sports Information, please call Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple at 440-826-2327 and you can e-mail him at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Nick Minerd at 440-826-2780 and e-mail him at nminerd@bw.edu.